My first visit to the Lake District was in 1982 and from that day on, whenever I visit I never cease to be captivated by the beauty of its Mountains Lakes and Valleys. Whether driving along the A66 to Keswick and seeing Blencathra stretching up into the sky ahead of me or getting that first glimpse of the Langdales from the A591 heading to Grasmere, travelling into Lakeland always lifts my spirits and restores my soul.
I’ve also grown to love it’s villages, hotels, youth hostels and pubs. Over the decades I’ve spent many happy evenings with friends, family, strangers or even just keeping my own company in The White Lion Patterdale, Tweedies in Grasmere or The Bridge In Buttermere and had memorable times stopping in its youth hostels.
I’ve also walked up a fair few Wainwright’s in that time. Over thirty eight years I’ve logged in my walking journal a hundred and thirty five but I may have done a few more. A few special ones, Great Gable, Helvellyn, the Scafell’s I’ve been up a few times.
Last summer, as an ‘investment in life’ my wife and I bought a camper-van and from that moment a plan started to formulate in my mind. I love the Lake District and I love Hill Walking. And now I have my own, cheap mobile accommodation to live in, so….. I thought, why not walk all of the Wainwright’s whilst I am still young enough and fit enough to do them. And over the months this plan has grown into a determination. I could finish them off, completing the eighty or so I haven’t done, but I think it would be much more satisfying and suit my sense of order to begin at the beginning and do all of them from scratch.
There was no social media or digital photography in 1982 so I have no pictures to tell the tale of many of my ascents. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing, walking and reaching a summit has satisfaction in its own right without the need for it to be recorded for posterity. However, much as Wainwright did for himself with his books, if I can record my efforts in pictures and words to look back on and enjoy in my later years when my ability to climb the hills has long gone, then that would seem to me to be a good enough reason for doing so. And if, through my sharing them with the wider world that is the internet you can get a sense of the majesty and beauty of the English Lake District through my writing and photographs then all the better.
So the decision is made. Over the next few years I intend to go on my own journey through The Wainwright’s, spending time enjoying each and every one of them. I have set myself a few rules:
- I will do them in book order so that I can get to know each area well. This will also limit the walks to think about at any one time and I hope will also give me a sense of walking in Wainwright’s own footsteps as I read his words and follow him on his own journey through the Lakes.
- I will enjoy them. I won’t rush them but will spend time on the hill and resist the temptation to get them just ‘ticked’ off.
- I will get a view from each top. I’ve been on many a mountain top in the mist, as, if you are a hillwalker you will have done. This will be different, after all what is the point of doing the Wainwright’s if you see nothing of them.
I did think of putting a time scale on my project but the rules I have set myself above really negate that. There may be times when I turn back if cloud comes in and I have to return another day. There may be whole weekends of bad weather that are written off. So be it, rule number two will apply, I will enjoy them and I won’t rush. As Wainwright himself says in the introduction to Book One and the start of his own journey,
‘Many are they who have fallen under the spell of Lakeland, and many are they who have been moved to tell of their affection, in story and verse and picture and song’
This journal, in its small way will tell of my very own affection and love of Lakeland, I hope you will enjoy it.